Year in which the Orleans Parish, La. municipal court system settled a lawsuit by agreeing to put a stop to "fines or time" sentencing: 2007

Number of such sentences handed down by that same court in March 2010 alone: at least 32

Estimated percent of people charged with criminal offenses in the U.S. who qualify for indigent defense: 80 to 90 percent

Percentage by which African-American defendants are more likely than white defendants to rely on indigent defense counsel: almost 500

Decade through which many Southern states were still using criminal justice debt collection to effectively re-enslave African-Americans by allowing landowners and companies to "lease" black convicts unable to pay on their own: 1930s

Year in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that imprisoning someone merely because of his inability to pay a fine or restitution was fundamentally unfair: 1983

* The states studied in order of number of persons in prison (Southern states bolded) were California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Arizona, North Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia, Alabama and Missouri.

Nothing will change unless enough good people come together to put a stop to this practice. It is well past time to set aside the arogance, racism, and fear so we can get on with entering the 21st centry here in the south. Wake up people and stop letting the privaleged few keep you in bondage!